After all, Overwatch 2 is getting some hero balances before Season 2

Overwatch 2 will actually get some balance changes before the second season, despite what Blizzard originally said.

Earlier this month, Blizzard told us that we wouldn’t see any hero changes until Season 2. Well, that’s not true anymore, as a blog post from community manager AndyB on the Overwatch forums informed us that we’d be seeing changes to a number of characters as early as November 15, including D.Va, Genji, Sombra, Kiriko, and probably the best tank in the game right now Zarya.

Unfortunately for the Genji network, you’ll only see some nerfs. His maximum ammo is reduced from 30 to 24, and his shuriken damage is reduced from 29 to 27. These changes to try and make Genji more in line with other flanking damage heroes, as he is a character that has benefited a lot from the move. to 5v5.

Sombra has also received a trio of nerfs, such as the duration of her lock-on ability being reduced from 1.75 to 1.5 seconds. Hacked enemies are also “no longer valid targets for hacking for the duration of the effect”, and the hacked damage multiplier has been reduced by a large amount, from 40 to 25%.

D.Va actually received a buff, with her fusion cannon spread increased from 3.5 to 3.75, though she’s also suffered an in-kind nerf, with her boosters’ hit damage reduced from 25 all the way down to 15.

Kiriko also received a nerf, with her quick step’s invulnerability duration reduced from 0.4 to 0.25 seconds. A developer comment explains that “this window of invulnerability is primarily intended to help avoid instantly dying to something unseen after teleporting through walls, but it ended up being a bit too long and led to some confusion when shooting at Kiriko. ”

Finally, Zarya also received a couple of nerfs, one saw her barrier duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds, and her barrier cooldown increased from 10 to 11 seconds. Interestingly, the developer commentary notes that early player sentiment thought Zarya would be one of the weakest solo tanks in the 5v5 trade, but “her high damage potential and barrier uptime have proven to be extremely effective.”

This caused opponents of the tank to feel that Zarya has “very limited windows of vulnerability, which feels difficult to handle when combined with the potential for rampant damage,” which is why the changes were put in place.

The blog post also notes that while the planned introduction of these changes is November 15, that could still change, so keep an eye out for updates if things change.